AN  ORATION 


DELIVERED 


July  4th,  1809, 


IN  THE  NORTH  DUTCH  CHURCH, 


BEFORE  THE 


WASHINGTON  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY 


OF 


THE  CITY  OF  NEW-YORK. 


BY  GULIAN  C.  VERPLANCK. 


Though  tamely  crouch  to  Gallia's  frown 

Dull  Holland's  tardy  train, 
Their  ravish'd  toys  though  Romans  mourn, 
Though  gallant  Switzers  vainly  spurn 

And  foaming  gnaw  the  chain  ; 
Ne'er  shall  we  bend  the  stubborn  knee, 

In  Freedom's  temple  born, 
Dress  our  pale  cheek  in  timid  awe, 
Or  tremble  at  a  tyrant's  law, 

Or  brook  a  master's  scorn.  W.  Scott. 


.YEW-YORK: 


PRINTED  FOR  E.  SARGF.AVl'  OPPOSITE  TRINITY  CHURCH 
By  D.  &  G  Bruce. 


1809. 


izx  Htbrtfl 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
" Sver'lhmg  comes  ('  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


At  a  stated  meeting  of  the  WASHINGTON  BENEVO- 
LENT SOCIETY,  held  July  6th,  1809.  Upon  motion, 
resolved,  that  the  thanks  of  the  society  be  returned  to 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  Esq.  for  the  oration  delivered  by 
him  on  the  Ath  July,  1809 — and  that  the  Committee  of 
Arrangement  be  instructed  to  request  a  copy  for  publi- 
cation. 

Extract  from  the  minutes.] 


AN  ORATION, 


ace 

Fellow  Citizens  / 

THIS  is  a  day  of  no  common  joy.  This  day  we 
celebrate  a  triple  festival — the  birth -day  of  our  na- 
tion, the  return  of  peace,  the  triumph  of  principle. 
We  rejoice,  that  another  year  has  found  our  country 
free,  and  great,  and  happy.  We  rejoice,  that  the 
storm  of  war  which  hath  long  hung  black  and 
threatening  over  our  heads,  is  now  fast  breaking 
away.  We  rejoice,  that  the  warning  voice  of  the  sages 
and  patriots  of  our  land  has  at  length  been  heard — 
that  our  citizens  have  been  awakened  to  a  knowledge 
of  their  dangers,  and  our  rulers  to  a  sense  of  their 
duty.  It  is  indeed  a  season  of  triumph.  Each  ho- 
nest, breast  swells  with  the  conscious  dignity  of  in- 
dependence. Each  honest  heart  beats  high  with  pa- 
triotic pride.  And  of  such  independence  and  such  a 
land  as  ours  who  would  not  be  proud  ?  who  so  dull 
and  cold  as  to  view  without  exultation  the  rising 
glories  of  such  a  country?  Our  domain — of  boundless 
extent,  and  of  endless  variety  of  soil,  and  clime,  and 
produce — a  land  overflowing,  bursting  with  redun- 
dant plenty.  Our  cities — gay  with  every  elegance 
of  polished  life,  and  rich  with  the  arts  of  peace  and 
the  profits  of  commerce.    Our  soil — tilled  by  a  race 


6 


of  freemen,  lords  of  the  soil,  lords  of  themselves. 
Here  reigns  the  true  equality  of  civilized  man,  the 
equality  of  equal  liberty  and  equal  laws.  Here, 
the  mind  free  and  unshackled  as  the  body,  crampt 
and  confined  by  no  rude  oppression,  expands  and 
dilates  itself  to  the  full  stature  and  proportions  of 
perfect  manhood ;  and,  as  if  labouring  to  repay  the 
prodigal  liberality  of  nature,  essays  its  strength  in 
every  variety  of  ingenious  speculation,  of  liberal  art, 
and  of  useful  invention — one  while,  like  the  Mohawk, 
winding  along  in  gay  luxuriance  through  smiling 
meadows  and  fields  glad  with  harvest,  dispensing 
joy,  and  health,  and  fertility;  and  now  again,  like 
the  Hudson,  rolling  its  steady  course  to  the  ocean, 
and  bearing  on  its  broad  bosom  the  rich  products  of 
our  industry,  our  arts,  and  our  enterprise. 

Of  such  a  land,  so  rich  in  every  gift  of  nature,  so 
favoured  of  heaven,  are  we  the  happy  sons.  Let  then 
no  party  rancour,  no  weak  foreboding  of  future  ill, 
repress  the  generous  sympathies  of  our  nature.  Let 
us  this  day  join  in  the  general  joy,  and  hail  with 
honest  pride  the  return  of  that  day  which  rescued  us 
from  the  oppression  of  foreign  power,  and  gave  us 
a  claim  to  the  glorious  titles  of  republicans  and  of 
freemen. 

Yet  a  doubt  will  sometimes  flit  athwart  the  mind 
whether  these  blessings  are  not  too  great  to  be  very 
permanent.  We  look  back  upon  antiquity,  and  see 
those  republics  from  among  which  the  light  of  sci- 
ence and  the  love  of  liberty  first  dawned  upon  the 
world,  after  a  short  course  of  glory,  sink  into  the 


7 


dust,  overwhelmed  by  foreign  power,  or  mouldered 
away  by  some  internal  principle  of  corruption.  We 
turn  to  the  continent  of  modern  Europe — those  free 
states  from  which,  when  we  first  started  into  exist- 
ence as  a  nation,  we  drew  the  models  of  our  civil  pol- 
icy, are  now  no  more  to  be  found.  Some  of  them,  in 
those  perilous  convulsions  of  change  which  have  sha- 
ken Europe  to  its  centre,  have  been  swept  from  ex- 
istence ;  and  the  rest  may  be  seen  crouching  at  the 
feet  of  Napoleon,  the  trembling  vassals  of  military 
despotism.  What  reason  have  we  to  hope  for  ex- 
emption from  the  general  doom  r  What  is  there  in 
our  peculiar  situation,  or  our  national  character,  to 
save  us  from  the  fate  of  Athens  and  Sparta  and 
Rome,  of  the  free  cities  of  Germany  and  Italy,  and 
of  the  confederated  republics  of  Switzerland  and 
Holland  ? 

This  is  a  question  worthy  of  serious  consideration. 
In  the  season  of  gloom  and  despondency  through 
which  We  have  passed,  it  might,  perhaps,  have  been 
criminal  even  to  have  hazarded  a  doubt  of  the  per- 
manency of  our  republican  institutions.  But,  in  this 
moment  of  triumph,  it  may  be  useful  to  check  our 
wild  presumption,  and  calmly  to  examine  upon  what 
foundation  our  liberty  rests  ;  what  we  have  to  hope, 
and  what  to  fear. 

On  this  subject  I  have  often  pondered  in  anxious 
meditation,  and  I  know  not  whether  my  judgment 
was  swayed  by  any  weak  partiality  when  I  confident- 
ly concluded  that  our  country,  though  perhaps  des- 
tined to  many  a  sad  vicissitude  of  fortune,  will  yet 


9 


long  continue  to  enjoy  that  individual  liberty  and 
national  independence  of  which  we  now  so  proudly 
boast.  The  ground  upon  which  I  ventured  to  found 
this  hope,  was  the  very  peculiar  character  of  my 
countrymen.  There  is  a  certain  cool  moderation 
and  shrewd  good  sense,  which,  in  every  state'  of  edu- 
cation and  manners,  strongly  mark  the  otherwise  va- 
ried character  of  the  people  of  these  United  States. 
This  moderation  will,  I  trust,  ever  preserve  them 
from  the  frantic  excesses  of  party  ;  and  this  discern- 
ment will  enable  them,  after  some  experience,  to  es- 
timate the  true  characters  of  their  rulers,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish their  real  from  their  pretended  friends. 

Their  ardent  love  of  freedom  may,  doubtless,  often 
expose  them  to  be  deluded  by  the  arts  and  hollow 
professions  of  the  crafty  and  the  ambitious.  For  a 
time,  power  may  be  confided  to  impure  hands.  But 
that  power  can,  I  trust,  never  be  extended  far  beyond 
the  narrow  bounds  of  constitutional  authority.  The 
moment  that  ambition  oversteps  those  limits,  the 
reign  of  deception  is  at  an  end,  and  the  people  will 
arise  and  vindicate  their  rights — not  by  riot,  insur- 
rection and  violence,  but  in  the  temperate  use  of  their 
legitimate  power — legally,  constitutionally,  and 
peacefully. 

For  the  correctness  of  this  view  of  our  political 
character,  I  appeal  to  every  fact  in  our  history — I 
appeal  to  every  incident  in  that  long  and  glorious 
struggle  by  which  we  achieved  our  independence. 
Even  at  the  commencement  of  the  revolution,  when 
in  the  wild  commotion  of  the  moment  every  ardent 


9 


spirit  in  the  nation  was  loosened  from  the  spot  where 
it  had  lain  dormant,  and  rose  buoyant  with  life  and 
vigour  to  the  surface  ;  when  statesmen  started  from 
the  desk  and  the  counter,  and  generals  from  behind 
the  plough  and  the  work-bench — even  in  that  mad- 
dening hour  of  tumult  did  temperate  reason  hold  her 
seat.  Our  country,with cool  discernment,from  among 
the  crowd  of  worthies  who  pressed  forward  to  her  ser- 
vice, selected  Washington  as  the  chief  of  her  armies — 
Washington,  the  wise  and  the  virtuous,  but  then, 
known  only  as  the  patient  and  the  prudent.  To 
this  patience  and  prudence  did  she  continue  steadily 
to  confide  her  dearest  interests,  unmoved  by  the 
whispers  of  calumny,  undazzled  by  the  glare  of  ro- 
mantic valour  and  bold  achievement.  Often  did 
the  cause  of  independence  appear  to  totter  on  the  ve- 
ry verge  of  ruin.  Often  did  .it  seem  to  almost  every 
human  eye  that  resistance  was  now  no  longer  prac- 
ticable. But  the  nation,  animated  by  the  great  ex- 
ample of  its  illustrious  chief,  continued  calmly  and 
confidently  to  persevere.    We  triumphed. 

But  with  the  return  of  peace  came  not  tranquillity. 
*  A  wild  spirit  of  savage  licentiousness  had  infected 
a  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens.  After  a  short  pe- 
riod of  gloomy  repose,  it  at  length  broke  forth  in 
bold  and  open  insurrection.  The  laws  were  set  at 
defiance,  and  the  course  of  justice  was  opposed  by 

*  See  a  very  curious  correspondence  between  Gen.  Washington  and  Gen, 
Knox,  Cols.  Humphries  and  Lee,  on  the  subject  of  the  Massachusetts  insurrec-, 
rection,  in  Marshall's  life  of  Washington.    Vol.  5.  p.  114—120. 

B 


10 


violence.  The  government  was  appalled,  feeble,  and 
powerless — but  t lie  people  were  true  to  themselves. 
The  mad  ferocity  of  the  insurgents  rapidly  gave  way 
before  the  disciplined  valour  of  a  patriotic  militia  ; 
and  a  rebellion  which  would  have  deluged  any  other 
country  with  blood,  was  quelled  without  the  aid  of 
a  regular  force,  and  almost  without  a  battle. 

Another  and  more  important  scene  was  now  to 
succeed.  The  world  was  to  be  astonished  with  a 
new  and  more  illustrious  example  of  the  practica- 
bility of  popular  self-government.  The  adoption  of 
the  federal  constitution  exhibited  the  wonderful 
phanomenon  of  the  form  of  government  of  a  great 
nation  undergoing  a  complete  and  radieal  revolu- 
tion without  war,  either  foreign  or  domestic,  without 
tumult  and  without  commotion.  Peacefully  and 
calmly  did  the  great  work  of  regeneration  proeeed, 
until  at  length  the  fabric  of  regulated  liberty  arose 
in  full  and  fair  proportion,  adorning  and  protecting 
the  land. 

At  that  time  of  feverish  irritation  against  Great 
Britain,  n  hen  we  were  yet  smarting  with  our  wounds 
and  sore,  it  might  naturally  have  been  expected  that 
we  would  have  spurned  away  with  contempt  every 
institution  of  British  origin.  But  such  fanatic  folly 
never  disgraced  that  venerable  body  of  sages  to  whom 
we  had  intrusted  the  formation  of  our  constitution. 

With  the  same  temperate  wisdom,  which  had 
hitherto  guided  our  national  councils;  they  selected 
from  the  British  constitution  every  feature  of  civil 


11 


liberty,*  every  bulwark  which  the  republican  spirit 
of  the  English  nation  had  anciently  erected  to  pro- 
tect the  subject  against  the  power  of  executive  op- 
pression. Yet,  at  the  same  time,  most  steadily  did 
they  oppose  every  attempt  to  invest  any,  even  the 
highest  magistrate  of  the  republic,  with  the  tinsel 
trappings  of  royal  or  patrician  splendor. 

Such  was  the  moderation,  such  the  wisdom  with 
which  that  union  under  which  we  have  prospered  for 
twenty  years  was  framed  and  compacted  together. 
That  union  is  now  "  the  mainpillar  in  the  edifice 
"  of  our  real  independence;  the  support  of  our  tran- 
"  quillity  at  home,  our  peace  abroad  ;  of  our  safety ; 
"  of  our  prosperity;  of  that  very  liberty  which  we 
"  so  highly  prize. "f — God  grant  it  may  never  be 
severed. 

I  pass  over  the  events  which  immediately  followed 
this  important  transaction;  although  many  of  them 
are  highly  interesting  in  themselves,  and  very  strong- 
ly illustrate  that  peculiar  view  of  the  American  cha- 
racter, to  which  your  attention  has  been  directed. 
We  have  seen  with  our  own  eyes,  and  our  fathers 
have  told  us,  with  what  careful  diligence  our  country 

*  The  right  of  trial  by  jury,  the  independence  of  the  judiciary,  and  the  privi- 
lege  of  habeas  corpus,  are  here  particularly  alluded  to.  "  Take  away  the  writ  of 
"  habeas  corpus,"  says  Mr.  Randolph,  "  and  1  would  not  give  a  pinch  of  snuff  for 
"  your  constitution ;  for  without  it  every  man  might  be  imprisoned  at  pleasure. 
"  Government  might  possibly  demand  a  forced  loan,  with  which,  if  the  citizen. 
"  did  not  comply,  he  might  be  carried  to  jail.  There  is  no  free  government 
"  where  this  wonderful  contrivance,  this  best  hope  of  man,  this  ?hcet  anchor  if 
"  freedom,  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  is  not  fosn<l-'' 

t  Washington's  farewell  address. 


12 


continued  to  protect  and  foster  the  rights  and  hap- 
piness of  her  citizens  at  home,  while  she  so  proudly 
maintained  their  interests  and  dignity  abroad,  that 

  'Twai  pride  and  boast  enough 

In  ever}'  clime;  and  travel  where  we  might 
That  wc  were  born  her  children. 

But  at  length  the  wisdom  of  the  nation  slept.  It 
would  ill  comport  with  the  feelings  of  the  present 
occasion,  to  call  up  to  view  that  system  of  bold  im- 
posture and  many-coloured  lies,  by  which  the  friends 
ot  Washington  were  driven  from  public  confidence; 
or  to  dwell  upon  the  dexterity  with  which  their  an- 
tagonists seized  and  turned  to  their  use  the  honest 
errors  of  some  of  our  leaders  and  the  obstinate  im- 
prudence of  others,  who  have  since,  after  sinking 
their  own  party,  enlisted  under  the  banners  of  their 
ancient  political  foes.  But,  let  this  pass — it  is  irk- 
some to  point  out  those  spots  which  dim  our  coun- 
try's glory.  For  a  lime,  however,  trick  and  stratagem 
were  successful.  So  completely  were  the  people 
drugged  with  the  opiates  of  flattery  and  fair  pro- 
fession, that  they  lay  in  stupid  lethargy,  and  saw 
their  navy  dismantled,  and  their  commerce  left  to  the 
mercy  of  every  petty  pirate.  They  saw,  without  in- 
dignation, the  temples  of  justice  broken  open,  and 
the  judiciary,  the  firmest  bulwark  of  their  liberties, 
thrown  down  and  trampled  under  foot.  Unmoved, 
they  beheld  a  system  of  executive  corruption  and 
unconstitutional  influence  sprouting  forth  from  the 
head  of  the  administration,  spreading  through  every 
department  of  the  state,  and  enveloping  the  repre- 


13 


sentative  majesty  of  our  nation  in  its  bread  and  poi- 
sonous shade.  Even  the  suspicion  of  foreign  influ- 
ence in  the  administration  could  not  rouse  them  to 
examine  their  danger.  The  clouds  of  war  blackened 
the  horizon,  and  we  seemed  about  to  band  ourselves 
with  the  vassal  powers  of  Napolean,  and  lend  our 
conscript  youth  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  despot. 
It  was  an  awful  moment.  Those  to  whom  we  had 
hitherto  been  used  to  look  for  counsel  and  for  suc- 
cour, were  no  more.  Hamilton,  Elsworth,  Ames, 
like  sere  and  yellow  leaves,  falling  around  us,  had  giv- 
en awful  portent  of  that  gloomy  season  which  was 
about  to  lower  upon  their  country.  All  around  us 
was  dark  and  silent.  All  abroad  was  threatening 
and  tempestuous.  As  we  stood  gazing  around  in 
stupid  apathy,  we  were  suddenly  aroused  by  a  voice 
which  bade  us  beware — which  told  us,  there  was 
imbecility  in  our  councils,  perhaps  corruption  in  our 
cabinet.  It  was  a  voice  to  which  we  had  heretofore 
listened  with  confidence.  It  was  the  voice  of  those 
to  whose  valour  we  owe  our  liberties,  to  whose  wis- 
dom, our  laws — of  men  venerable  for  public  service 
and  for  private  worth. 

We  started  as  if  from  a  dream.  Thousands  of 
gallant  spirits  pressed  forward  at  once,  from  every 
side  to  the  rescue  of  their  country.  Personal  ani- 
mosities died  away.  Party  difference  was  forgotten. 
We  saw  with  astonishment,  men  whom  we  had  hith- 
erto been  accustomed  to  respect  rather  for  the  inte- 
grity of  their  hearts,  than  for  the  vigour  of  their  un- 
derstanding, now  standing  forth  in  the  foremost  ranks 


14 


of  the  defenders  of  the  constitution.  We  saw  them 
as  danger  thickened  round,  rising  with  the  occasion, 
gathering  strength  from  the  exigency  of  the  moment, 
and  defending  their  holy  cause  with  talents  which 
would  not  have  dishonoured  the  best  days  of  English 
eloquence,  and  with  courage,  that  would  not  have 
shrunk  back  from  the  walls  of  Quebec  or  the  heights 
of  Bunker's  Hill. 

As  the  electric  spark  caught  from  man  to  man,  the 
popular  voice  gradually  swelled  to  such  a  peal  of 
remonstrance,  that  the  faction  which  was  hurrying 
us  to  ruin  stood  appalled.  Their  trembling  chief 
started  from  his  chair  of  state,  and  hurried  from  the 
public  eye.  On  the  very  verge  of  the  precipice  we 
stopt.    The  country  was  saved. 

Fellow  citizens — to  whom  do  we  owe  this?  to 
whom  do  we  owe  it,  that  we  this  day  meet  in  free- 
dom and  in  peace.  Not  to  our  Pickerings,  our  Bay- 
ards, and  our  Lloyds.  No,  not  to  them,- — though 
they  have  done  much,  though  they  have  deserved 
well.  No — but  to  the  people  themselves — the  peo- 
ple who  had  the  discernment  to  distinguish  their 
friends  from  their  flatterers,  and  the  magnimity  to 
sacrifice  the  pride  of  opinion  to  the  public  good. 

To  the  people  of  this  land,  then,  experience  has 
shown  that  the  protection  of  their  own  rights  may 
be  safely  confided.*  But  we  hav  e  yet  another  ground 

*  In  addition  to  the  argument,  here  used,  for  the  probable  duration  of  oar  re- 
publican form  of  government,  others  less  suited,  indeed,  for  the  purposes  ol 
declamation,  but  of  equal  weight,  may  be  drawn  from  some  peculiar  circum- 
stances in  our  situation,  and  the  structure  of  our  constitution.  1st.  Our  country 
presents  a  boundless  field  to  active  enterprise  ;  and  honest  exertion  can,  here, 


15 


of  hope — a  higher,  holier  hope.  Without  debasing 
ourselves  in  abject  superstition,  or  indulging  any 
bold  presumption,  may  we  not,  in  the  manly  spirit 
of  rational  piety,  dare  to  trust  that  our  liberties  are 
in  a  peculiar  manner  under  the  protection  of  that 
providence  which  has  guided  us  in  safety  through  so 
many  scenes  of  difficulty  and  danger  ?  The  experi- 
ence of  history  will  show  us  that  as  some  states  have 
been  selected  by  heaven  as  the  depositaries  of  truth 
and  knowledge,  so  others  have  been  marked  by  spe- 

rarely  fail  of  success.  As  long  as  this  state  of  things  continues,  we  have  little  to 
fear  from  the  irregular  amhition  of  those  aspiring  spirits  whose  vigorous  strug- 
gles for  the  attainment  of  wealth  and  power  so  often  throw  into  commotion  those 
old  and  populous  states,  where  all  the  sources  of  riches  are  under  the  control 
of  a  few  overgrown  capitalists  ;  while  the  only  avenues  to  public  distinction, 
are  the  claims  of  hereditary  dignity,  or  of  seniority  and  slow  ascent  through  the 
routine  of  public  service.  2nd.  Our  division  into  state  governments. — The  sove- 
reignties of  the  states  comprise  so  much  of  that  part  of  legislation  which  comes 
most  nearly  home  to  the  feelings  and  interests  of  the  individual,  that  those  pas- 
sions, which  if  felt  at  once  throughout  the  nation,  and  directed  to  a  single  point, 
might  endanger  the  safety  of  the  whole,  are  now  employed  on  smaller  objects, 
and  on  a  smaller  scale.  The  flame  of  local  faction  may  for  a  time  blaze  with  ve- 
hemence, but  it  is  pent  up  in  the  narrow  limits  of  the  state  where  it  originates  ; 
its  ravages  are  slight,  and  the  reparation  easy.  3rd.  The  facility  with  which 
party  rage  finds  an  easy  and  harmless  vent — The  immense  number  of  legisla- 
tive and  corporate  elective  bodies  in  the  United  Stales,  form  a  vast  system  of 
checks  and  balances,  perhaps,  more  efficient  than  those  regularly  provided  by 
the  constitution  ;  while  the  consequent  frequency  of  elections,  which  to  a  mere 
speculative  politician  might  seem  of  the  most  dangerous  tendency,  is,  really, 
found  productive  of  very  salutary  effects.  For  a  week  or  two  previous  to  every 
election,  all  is  noise  and  tumult — but  beyond  this  we  have  little  to  dread.  All 
that  is  most  dangerous  in  the  excess  of  party  feeling  in  the  people  is  refined 
away  by  filtration  through  the  medium  of  their  representatives — the  victorious 
party  forget  their  anger  and  personal  animosities  in  the  joy  of  triumph,  and  the 
vanquished  solace  their  mortification  with  boasts  of  what  they  can  do  at  the 
next  election  ;  or  are,  perhaps,  consoled  for  the  loss  of  their  president  or  gover- 
nor by  succeeding  in  their  members  of  assembly,  or  getting  a  majority  in  some 
city  corporation. 

These  are  points  worthy  of  a  more  serious  investigation.  In  the  narrow 
■ompass  of  a  note  they  can  scarcely  be  presented  distinctly  to  view. 


16 


cial  favour  as  the  chosen  channels  through  which  ci- 
vil and  religious  liberty  might  be  conveyed  to  pos- 
terity. Thus  by  the  arm  of  the  Almighty,  and  not 
by  their  own  strength,  were  the  petty  republics  of 
Greece  supported  against  the  gigantic  power  of  the 
Persian  empire.  Thus,  in  later  times,  were  Switzer- 
land and  Holland  long  upheld  atrainst  the  arts  and 
arms  of  Spain,  and  Austria,  and  France.  Our  own 
country  now  seems  to  be  chosen  as  the  sanctuary  in 
which  the  models  of  republican  institutions  may  be 
preserved  and  perfected,  until  the  whole  land  shall 
be  filled  with  a  race  of  freemen,  from  the  western  to 
the  eastern  ocean,  from  Labrador  to  Mexico.  Yet 
this  is,  perhaps,  wild  and  presumptuous  speculation, 
and  I  dare  not  urge  it  farther. 

Let  us  recollect,  too,  that  the  Almighty  in  the  va- 
rious operations  both  of  the  natural  and  moral  world 
often  condescends  to  act  through  the  medium  of  hu- 
man agents  ;  that  though  he  zcafere/h  the  furrows  of 
the  earth,  and  sendeth  rain  into  the  Little  vallie^t hereof , 
and  inaketh  it  soft  ivith  the  drops  of  rain,  yet  he  re- 
quires the  toil  and  the  skill  of  the  husbandman  ere 
the  tallies  stand  thick  with  corn. 

Thus  animated  by  pious  hope,  thus  confident  in 
the  integrity  of  our  fellow-citizens,  we  may  boldly 
persevere  in  every  honourable  exertio  for  the  sup- 
port of  what  ice  deem  sound  principle.  I  know 
there  are  among  us  some,  whose  gentler  natures 
shrink  back  from  the  rude  contests  of  civil  discord. 
Upon  such  men  I  would  urge  the  consideration, 
whether  in  a  government  like  ours,  whose  vital  prin- 


17 


ciple  is  the  mutual  dependence  of  all  on  each,  they 
are  not  bound  as  well  by  duty  as  by  interest  to  sacri- 
fice their  convenience,  and  even  sometimes  their 
feelings  to  the  general  welfare.  Let  them  recollect 
that  there  is  a  considerable  portion  of  the  communi- 
ty of  very  limited  information,  although  of  sound 
judgments  and  honest  hearts.  If  these  men  are  not 
induced  by  the  force  of  personal  influence  and  indi- 
vidual exertion  to  strengthen  the  arms  of  honest  men, 
they  may,  perhaps,  be  deluded  to  become  the  tools 
of  the  crafty  and  the  turbulent.  Finally,  I  would 
remind  them  that  in  their  hands  are  intrusted  the 
hopes  and  fortunes  of  their  children  and  their  chil- 
dren's children  ;  and,  in  the  name  of  their  country, 
I  admonish  them  that  they  slumber  not  over  the  sa- 
cred deposit.  In  the  language  of  ancient  patriotism, 
I  charge  them,  that  they  see  well  to  it  that  the  repub- 
lic suffer  no  wrong.*  Although  complete  success 
do  not  at  once  crown  their  efforts,  let  them  not  des- 
pond. We  now  know  that  the  struggles  even  of  a 
minority  may  oftentimes  procrastinate,  delay,  and  at 
length  avert  the  evil  hour.  Still  let  us  not  rest  sat- 
isfied with  partial  success.  The  present  is  a  time 
which  demands  the  most  active  vigilance.  From  the 
character  of  our  present  chief  magistrate,  we  have 
much  to  hope,  and  much  to  fear.  We  behold  in  him, 
the  friend  of  our  Hamilton—- the  supporter  of  the  ca- 
lumniators of  Washington — the  advocate  of  temper- 
ate liberty — the  patron  of  the  admirers  of  French  li- 


*  Caveant  ne  qjiid  detrimeuti  respublica  capiat.   Lr  v 

c 


18 


centiousness.  We  have  seen  him  foremost  among  the 
early  assertors  of  our  national  independence,  and 
yet,  content  for  a  time,  to  submit  in  silence,  to  those 
plans  of  ruin  that  had  almost  brought  us  to  the  feet 
of  Napoleon. 

Still,  perhaps,  his  principles  may  be  sound  .though 
ambition  may  have  led  his  steps  astray.  The  infec- 
tion of  French  policy  which  has  floated  over  our  land, 
'like  the  pestilent  vapour  of  the  Arabian  deserts, 
blasting  and  corroding  all  that  it  touched,  may,  per- 
haps, have  passed  over  his  senses  like  a  gentle  gale. 
He  has  begun  well — let  us  hope,  then,  for  the  best. 
But  he  has  much  to  do.  Let  him  continue  in  a  course 
of  strict  impartiality  towards  foreign  nations.  Let 
him  brush  away  with  no  gentle  hand  those  vermin 
that  have  swarmed  around  the  capitol  and  sucked  the 
life-blood  of  the  nation — every  intriguing  sycophant, 
every  tool  of  power.  Let  him  spurn  from  him  that 
violator  of  our  constitutional  liberties,  that  public 
plunderer  who  has  so  long  polluted  and  disgraced 
the  American  army — let  him  plant  his  foot  upon 
that  bloated  reptile,  and  crush  out  at  once  his  venom 
and  his  froth.  This  done,  let  him  persevere  in  the 
policy  of  Washington.  Virtue  will  hail  her  return- 
ing son,  and  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen  will 
shed  around  his  character  such  a  blaze  of  glory,  that 
each  foul  blot  and  stain  of  his  earlier  life  will  be  for- 
ever hidden  from  our  dazzled  eyes. 


19 


Friends  and  Brothers  of  the  Washington  Society, 

Among  the  many  impressive  lessons  of  political 
wisdom  which  may  be  drawn  from  the  history  of  re- 
publican Rome,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  may  be 
found  in  the  conduct  of  their  senate  towards  an  un- 
fortunate general,  whose  rash  imprudence  had  al- 
most caused  the  ruin  of  the  state.  When  the  senate 
was  assembled  to  hear  the  disastrous  tale  of  Cannae, 
they  learnt  that  through  the  misconduct  of  their 
chief,  a  chosen  army,  the  last  hope  of  the  nation,  had 
been  utterly  discomfited,  and  the  flower  of  the  Ro- 
man youth  left  dead  upon  the  field:  but  when  they 
were  told  that  the  consul,  even  in  that  hour  of  over- 
whelming shame  and  confusion,  had  not  forgotten 
that  he  was  the  first  magistrate  of  a  great  people — 
that  he  was  rallying  the  scattered  remnants  of  his 
routed  legions,  and  summoning  to  his  aid  whatever 
of  resource  or  succour  the  dignity  of  the  Roman 
name,  or  the  authority  of  his  own  high  station,  could 
yet  command,  every  spark  of  resentment  died  away, 
andayvote  was  solemnly  passed,  that  the  consul  had 
dese/ved  the  thanks  of  his  country,  for  not  having 
despaired  of  the  republic.  That  praise,  fellow-citi- 
zens, is  yours.  At  a  time  when  general  and  indi- 
vidual calamity  pressed  heavily  upon  all  classes, 
when  others  stood  in  cold  and  stupid  despondency, 
you  did  not  despair  of  the  republic. 

In  the  darkest  period  of  that  gloom,  ere  yet  the 
day  spring  had  dawned  in  the  east,  you  arose,  to  the 
protection  of  your  country  and  the  relief  of  your 


90 


fellow- citizens.  You  collected  into  one  channel 
each  little  rill  of  charity,  wjiich  had  hitherto  wandered 
as  chance  or  caprice  might  guide,  and  bade  them 
How  in  one  steady  stream  of  judicious  bounty.  You 
reared  the  standard  of  principle  and  called  upon  ev 
ry  honest  man  to  rally  around  it.  Excluding  wi 
scrupulous  care  the  bigoted  monarchist^ and  tl 
rancorous  jacobin,  you  united  into  one  body  all  vvh 
honoured  the  constitution,  all  who  venerated  tl^e 
memory  of  Washington.  His  life  you  selected  as 
the  great  example  of  your  conduct — his  last  solemn 
charge  to  his  countrymen  as  the  text  book  of  your 
policy.  The  success,  which  has  already  crowned 
your  efforts  for  the  diffusion  of  truth  and  the  relief 
of  distress,  is  such  as  should  excite  you  to  yet  higher 
exertion.  Proceed  then  as  you  have  begun.  Though 
calumny  assail,  though  difficulties  arise,  still  perse- 
vere. Hand  in  hand — friends,  fathers,  fellow-coun- 
trymen— hand  in  hand  boldly  persevere.  Persevere 
and  you  proceed  triumphantly.  Triumphant  in  the 
conciousness  of  virtuous  principle,  triumphant  in  the 
certainty  of  ultimate  success — fully  assured,  that 
whatever  dangers  may  seem  to  impend,  if  the  nation 
be  but  sound  at  heart  there  is  nothing  to  fear,  ft  he 
dream  of  delusion  will  soon  flit  away.  The  people 
will  arise  in  the  majesty  of  their  might,  and  savi 
THEMSELVES. 


FINIS 


